It is conventional practice to deliver chilled beer and other beverages in a tavern or other facility from a storage area to a dispensing station at a location remote from the storage area. During the delivery of the beverage from the storage area to the dispensing station the beverage conventionally is maintained at a selected chilled temperature, and such temperature usually is that at which the beverage should be served. Accordingly, it is conventional to provide a system for transporting the beverage from the storage area to the dispensing station under conditions which maintain the beverage temperature at a selected temperature regardless of whether the beverage is stationary in the delivery system, such as when the facility is closed, or actually passing through the system when the facility is open.
Conventional beverage delivery and chilling apparatus incorporates rather elaborate refrigeration and transport systems. A typical transport system has a beverage pump which enables a beverage to be delivered from a source thereof through one or more tubes or lines to the dispensing station. At least part of each beverage delivery tube is formed of thermally conductive material. A coolant is circulated via a pump between a chiller and the dispensing station through coolant tubes which also are at least partly formed of thermally conductive material. The coolant tubes are in contact with or closely adjacent the beverage tubes so that heat transfer between the beverage tubes and the coolant tubes maintains the beverage in a chilled condition.
The chilling system includes a conventional refrigeration apparatus which maintains the coolant at a selected temperature sufficient to effect chilling of the beverage. The refrigeration apparatus conventionally is accommodated in an enclosure mounted at a position which does not interfere with the movement of personnel in the vicinity of the beverage delivery system. To ensure proper operation of the chilling apparatus it should be monitored by both monitoring equipment and personnel. In many instances, however, the chilling system is so located as to be extremely inconvenient to operating personnel who are responsible for the proper operation of the system. In some instances it is both desirable and by the refrigeration enclosure. In other instances, however, it is much more convenient to have the line chilling apparatus remote from the refrigeration enclosure and in a location more accessible to operating or maintenance personnel.
An object of the present invention is to provide beverage line chilling apparatus which is adapted to be supported at any selected one of a number of different locations, thereby enabling such apparatus to be supported at the most convenient position.